Baltimore City Power Rankings: Paul Graziano

Alex Fine

The boss of Baltimore Housing came to the city in October of 2000 and by December he was arrested after shouting anti-gay slurs at fellow patrons of Bertha’s Mussels. In 2004, he put on his best used car salesman voice to announce he had many vacant structures for sale as part of Project 5000—when as yet there was no inventory for sale. By 2005, amid an epidemic of house collapses, Graziano did little to repair a corrupt building inspections system until after City Paper exposed it. By 2010, facing millions in court-ordered payments to lead paint victims, Graziano said his agency could not afford to pay. In 2014, he made Baltimore the most ambitious testbed for a controversial public housing privatization scheme called the rental assistance demonstration—RAD. Long before the sex-for-repair allegations in Gilmor Homes, Graziano has been mired in scandal.

The boss of Baltimore Housing came to the city in October of 2000 and by December he was arrested after shouting anti-gay slurs at fellow patrons of Bertha’s Mussels. In 2004, he put on his best used car salesman voice to announce he had many vacant structures for sale as part of Project 5000—when as yet there was no inventory for sale. By 2005, amid an epidemic of house collapses, Graziano did little to repair a corrupt building inspections system until after City Paper exposed it. By 2010, facing millions in court-ordered payments to lead paint victims, Graziano said his agency could not afford to pay. In 2014, he made Baltimore the most ambitious testbed for a controversial public housing privatization scheme called the rental assistance demonstration—RAD. Long before the sex-for-repair allegations in Gilmor Homes, Graziano has been mired in scandal.

Last month, seven women in the public housing complex Gilmor Homes filed a civil suit that alleged maintenance workers demanded sexual favors from tenants and witheld repairs until they were provided and over an extended period of time, stalked and sexually harassed the women as well. (Since then four more women have signed on as plaintiffs.) The lawsuit claimed that Baltimore housing commissioner Paul Graziano and other officials were aware of this abuse and chose to ignore it for years. Since then, more details of the sexual abuse have come out and demands to fire Graziano—something the mayor said she would “absolutely not” do—are mounting.

Last month, seven women in the public housing complex Gilmor Homes filed a civil suit that alleged maintenance workers demanded sexual favors from tenants and witheld repairs until they were provided and over an extended period of time, stalked and sexually harassed the women as well. (Since then four more women have signed on as plaintiffs.) The lawsuit claimed that Baltimore housing commissioner Paul Graziano and other officials were aware of this abuse and chose to ignore it for years. Since then, more details of the sexual abuse have come out and demands to fire Graziano—something the mayor said she would “absolutely not” do—are mounting.